... I rode 25000 miles last year, commuting in London, green-laning, enduro tracking, touring Europe and crossing the Middle-East and Asia without a single issue (except 4 incidents of people trying to steal her).

The attempted thefts, twice in London. Once at my house and I chased a pair of lads off. No severe damage. Second in London when some bastard hammered a screwdriver into the ignition barrel. After that I used a marine switch so it had to be rewired. Lessons were learned with that.
Third time in the Thai jungle, my girlfriend's (at the time) brother got hammered, pulled a gun, nearly shot himself in the face and in the morning he had pulled out the wires and shorted the battery out. He'd left by then, of course. 4th time she was parked up a while and the ignition barrel has been hit hard enough to bend the custom mounting bracket. No trouble anywhere else.

I didn't copy any mods, I went my own way. I think the 19" wheel and better seat make the Country more useful as a RTW tourer. I had a gel-seat fitted but that was a mistake. It's fine when you're crossing mountains but in the heat they go rock hard and there were days it was torture. Wilburs rear shock makes a massive difference, money well spent. K&N filter and new exuast, I wanted leo vince but settled for GPR, the only road legal one for a decent price. Headlights are from a Buell with twin HID bulbs, tank is Acerbis, rear rack is Touratech and luggage is dirtbagz (less weight, less damage to you in a crash, bash plate was custom made in Germany and the rest I built myself in my dad's shed.

They're awesome machines. I rode with a KTM990adventure. I had to tow that monstrosity through a village in India when it broke down. I had to jump start him when his battery fried for 2 days. We had to keep with an armed escort in Pakistan, 10 miles of rocks and mud and up to 70mph with luggage. She did it all. The only other problem we had was fuel, in the Iran deserts the quality was so low I got a lot of pinking. In the end, on the last day there were times I couldn't get out of 4th gear, I had no power left. Moved into Pakistan and the problem vanished. I do get poor fuel consumption in Thailand but they use different kinds of fuel like gasahol which is meant for scooters. I can't read the language to frequently they put all manner of crap in. So far she deals with everything and I've noticed no lack of power. Moving along to Cambodia soon. More bikes there, cheaper bars and the girls are nicer. I was walking through a station the other day and a schoolgirl in uniform out collecting money with her classmates walked up and tried to flirt with me and give me her number. I'm pushing 40, I don't need that. Thailand is not for me.

...I was walking through a station the other day and a schoolgirl in uniform out collecting money with her classmates walked up and tried to flirt with me and give me her number. I'm pushing 40, I don't need that. Thailand is not for me.

When you're 60 you'll probably look back with a different perspective.

Today I moved the Rotopax tank to the side like this to check out the size.

The Rotopax it 3 inches thick, about the same as the Acerbis 0.8 gallon tank. I sort of agree with jtw that 0.8g or 3L isn't much but that should get me to about 190 miles which is roughly the same range as the F800GS I ride. I'll probably keep the extra Liter bottle as a backup. Soooo, my current thought is to get the 3L Acerbis with the siphon kit and try to mount it on the HB bracket. About the location of the fuel weight, in my case moving it from the tail section to the side and using a smaller tank should be an improvement even though the gallon up top never seemed to be an issue

My Xc is an 09 with a steel subframe. We lightly pack the Wolfman bags and that is about all we carry on that bike. My F800 is the work horse but we've learned to travel pretty light and even that is not overloaded.

About the Xcountry in general, we just crossed 15,000 miles and it's been a very dependable bike. I've had to ride it a few times in rough sections (see the Utah Ride Report) and I am totally amazed at the capabilities that bike has. The major mods we made include a custom made seat with gel pad, SW Motech crash bars, Touratech skid plate, heated grips, Wunderlich screen and my favorite mod is the addition of a steering stabilizer.

All I meant was 3lt didn't sound enough for me. In fact I never once had a fuel related issue through the middle east. Even in Pakistan there were people selling it from bottles at the side of the roads. Fuel capacity is probably over-rated unless you're really going out of the way. I carried 2 litres of spare fuel in bottles too but the only times we needed them was to pour into the thirsty KTM so it could keep moving.
I love the Wolfman, they look like quality gear but the price made me move towards the Dirtbagz. They came with mounting racks too so saved me a bundle. Not the best bags in the world. They never leaked but there is wear and tear. Next time I'll just get a bunch of generic heavy duty bags and bungie them on. Sometimes simple is better.
I don't like the rotopax mounted on the tail (personal choice) but otherwise you have a great setup. It's a real challenge getting all the gear onto these little bikes.
As for subfame... I wouldn't worry too much. I've grounded with my Wilburs from heavy landings. no issue. I've travelled with pillions and too much luggage. No issues. If you plan around it then it'll be fine. I looked into the touratech subframe. TT UK were willing to sell it seperately from the boxes. Still very pricey though. The 2008 yellow version has a steel frame. I looked into that from BMW... roughly same price. However, the BMW has footpegs, the TT doesn't, also there might be mounting issues with racks if you move away from the alloy standard rear. For my money... this is a little bike, pack lightly and enjoy twice the fuel economy of a big bike, leave it in the corners, lose it in the dirt and turn around with dropping the thing every second day. Don't over-concern yourself with the alloy. Treat it is an issue and planning around it will probably be enough.

so what do you mean exaclty by "I've grounded with my Wilburs..." do you mean the shock has bottomed itself hard?

I'd like to know if you have the Wilbers 642 ( w/ piggyback reservoir) like I have, or the cheaper emulsion shock. I know I'm probably too much into data compared to your Nike ways (just do it).... but right now I'm trying to choose an option from Wilburs as to changing the shims and/or the spring rate - if you would be willing to wade through my post a couple of pages back and PM me your opinion I'd appreciate it.

Your XCountry lifestyle (and the rest of your lifestyle for that matter) sounds like da bomb to me. Live it up man..

Love that XCountry...
(hey Geoff you need a new category for jtw000...)

This is funny. Snooker asking me? I bought the bloody thing because of you! I even used your site for fitting references. I have the cheaper shock with no reservoir. My reasoning... setting it up is an art and as a recovering sports-bike addict I just have a tendency to screw everything down as hard as it will go and then enjoy the feeling of my spine shaking apart.
I was trying to reign in my budget and the cracked swing-arm made me figure this was a worthwhile mod. So... wow. Best money I ever spent. The bike handled better and even had more power since she didn't bog down under load. Wilbers rule! I looked at Hagon, a UK company who would build a shock to my spec. However there was a 3 year warranty compared to Wilbers 5 years. Tells you all you need to know. I did need to know more so i spoke with some guys who all came down on the side of the better shock.
The only time I've bottomed out was here in Thailand. My Soi (street) was pulled up and new drains were installed which stood proud about 15" high. It was just dirt and rocks so I went up there as often as possible. I found that if I hit them hard enough I could take off and land on the next one, even with a pillion (who was not impressed) and yeah, I felt it click as we bottomed. No issues except my passenger is reluctant to get back on. It wasn't my fault. People were cheering, there was no way to resist.
My opinion on spring rate... sorry this isn't helpful but if I had an issue what I would do is review what you did. You're the fountain of knowledge on this stuff. What I would say is the Wilbers setup worked a treat. I abused her pretty hard, even with a female passenger and her entire wardrobe on the back and i had no problems.
Yeah, the XC lifestyle. It's hit a wall at the moment. Thailand has let me down, they messed me about with visas and I had to go to Cambodia to get it. Well Cambodia was awesome so I'm thinking of going to live there and buy a bar or something. I'm stuck on my own next week, my friend has to go to a funeral as her uncle got gunned down in a gangland execution so time for a rideout I think. I have a good friend in Pattaya. Dave, awesome guy, total hero. He's an american (I don't hold it against him) who walked out on his wife one morning, bought a bike and spent 5 years on the road all round the world. He has a Dakar and never had one issue. I also know a dude doing the same trip on a Honda C90 but his bike has spat out 2 engines already. I rode with him towards the border once, 5 hours out and it took me 1 to get back. Nice guy. Kind of...
Anyway, if you're looking for an interesting bike setup you could all do worse than this...

Oh and Snooker is so hardcore, I think he should go hardtail. Chrome plate that swingarm and be done Have you considered an air shock? I don't hear anyone complain about them, except that they have nothing that even resembles consistency.